A Winter Story
by Rinshiro Yukie
Summary: Winter has arrived, and Ryoma-kun (ryoma buchou! screech) just graduated from Seishun Gakuen (Seigaku). New beginnings... Non-yaoi. XD First PoT fic, so yoroshiku!
1. Prologue

Nya… haven't been writing for say, 2 years? o_O" This is my first fic after a long time… XD I'm not very sure how the story will go, exactly… just letting my imagination flow. ^^ Ok, firstly, I don't own Tennis no Oujisama! As much as I'll like to… T^T Christmas is coming, and I don't like to write one-shots, so I'll just base it from there. XD

**Title: A Winter Story**

**Prologue**

A snowflake fell at the tip of his tongue as a young boy walked down the street, his tennis bag slung over his shoulder and his trademark white cap in place. A girl walked behind him, glancing at him from time to time and looking away. 

"What're you up to?" he suddenly asked, without turning his head. The girl was startled, and replied softly, "Nothing much… well, we're graduating soon, aren't we? I… I just wanted to ask you whether you want to sign my yearbook… I hope that you'll be the first one…" 

The boy turned, glancing at her sideways. "So what are you waiting for?" The girl's eyes lit up and showed him her yearbook. He signed his name, and wrote "Good luck for high school" and walked away. The girl hugged her yearbook, beaming. 

"Ryoma-kun…"

---

"Buchou, congratulations on getting to Akihoe High!" 

Ryoma looked at the sophomore and blinked. "A… arigatou… how did you know?" "Horio-kun said so." "…Yappari." Ryoma sighed. Most of his senpais were there, and they had a good tennis club, so it's by far the best choice. Tezuka and Taka-san went to other schools, while Tomo and Sakuno went to Hatsuhoe High, sibling school of Akihoe. Ryoma looked at Sakuno talking to Tomo as he watched the tennis club practise. She had grown much prettier, and matured a lot ever since they were freshmen. He had been attracted, just that he was too proud to admit that fact, and treated matters of the heart as if they were non-existent…

Snow was making it difficult to play on the tennis courts, and he called them back for a meeting. "I'll be leaving Seigaku soon, along with your other senpais. Continue winning glory for Seigaku's tennis team, otherwise I won't let you off. This is especially for our newly appointed buchou, Kazama-kun." He turned to the sophomore. "You must lead Seigaku to greater heights. That's all for today. Dismiss."

"That's all?" Ryuzaki-sensei appeared out of nowhere (don't ask me when I suddenly felt like bringing her in xD) and folded her arms. "What about addressing the freshmen?" "What I said applies to all… Even the freshmen." Ryoma lowered his cap. "Mada mada da ne…"

He took his bag and walked off, leaving the rest of the team as they congratulate Kazama. Ryuzaki-sensei looked at his fading form in the distance. "He didn't want to stay long because a long goodbye would even be more painful for him…" she thought, smirking. Ryoma never did look back.


	2. Chapter 1: To Like, or Not to Like?

School re-opened not too long ago… T_T Dakara gomen nasai for not writing! ^^;; Quite happy to see positive responses! I have no idea where I'm taking it yet… *grin* Cinpii: Actually I LOVE yaoi. XD I'm shounen-ai obsessed, actually. *hurhur* But I haven't been writing yaoi for a long time, so… ah… oh well. *LOL* I did a Prince of Tennis character quiz last time, and I got Fuji. I'm not surprised. XD Other than the tensai part (okay, so my grades sux), the sadist and level-headed part matches, I suppose. My dearie reminds me more of Momo (coincidentally he likes basketball too! XD). ^^;; But Tezuka when he's serious. *lol* *heh*

Arigatou! ^^ Enjoy minna-san! ^^-

**Chapter 1: To Like, or Not to Like?**

"NYA! Ochibi, it's so good to see you again! Ureshii desu~ (ureshii: joyful expression XD)" Kikumaru Eiji exclaimed as Ryoma approached the entrance of high school. He felt slightly annoyed by the (embarrassing) "Ochibi" expression as he was already nearly as tall as Kikumaru, but felt glad to see him, nonetheless. Oishi was standing nearby and waved to Ryoma from a distance. He was talking happily with a girl. Ryoma was fighting the urge to chuckle (XD). 

Kikumaru stuck out his tongue in Oishi's direction and pouted, "Now Oishi has a GIRLfriend he doesn't want me anymore!" Oishi and the girl sweatdropped. Ryoma grinned.

 "Heh, not bad Oishi-senpai." 

Neither of them changed abit. 

---

"Ryoma-kun!" a girl called out to Ryoma after he was dismissed from his last class. He stared at her quizzedly. The girl was really pretty, with hair slightly past her shoulder and neat bangs. She looked awfully like…

"…Sakuno?" His eyes widened in surprise. Sakuno blushed, feeling his intense gaze on her. "Aa… gomen ne… Ano… do I look nice? My mother cut my hair for me…" She blushed even harder, her head lowering. Ryoma walked up in front of her and gave her a flick on her forehead. "Have more confidence. Yes, you do look nice. Now you don't have hair that gets in your way." Sakuno beamed. 

A few seconds passed… and Ryoma continued gazing quizzedly at her. "…well? You were looking for me, weren't you?" Sakuno took a deep breath and said quickly, "Will you be free on Sunday?" "...huh?" "I'm asking if you'll be free on Sunday…" "Oh." Ryoma replied coolly. "Yeah, I think so." 

Sakuno blushed again. "Well, it's Christmas Eve, and my school and your school are having a joint formal… Do you uh… do you want to go… together?"

"Okay. Tell me what time to pick you up then."

Sakuno looked at him in delighted surprise. "Really? I mean, ya… the formal starts at six…" "I'll pick you up at five thirty then." Ryoma looked indifferent, but inside, his heart was pounding fast. Date-o… Despite several love mails from his fan club and scattered fans from other schools in Seigaku, he had never actually dated a girl. Well, in this case he wasn't the one to initiate it, but still… "Ne, I have to rush home for dinner now, so… see you then." Ryoma waved and walked away. Sakuno felt as if she was bathing in a pool of bliss and smiled happily to herself while she skipped home in the opposite direction…

_There's hope after all…_

---

Ryoma put down his bag on the floor and sat on his bed. His cheeks felt hot at the thought of Sakuno's initiation not too long ago… Karupin jumped onto his lap and drawled. He stroked his cat's fur absent-mindedly as it purred in pleasure. He never wanted to fall in love, or have a romance… a relationship sounded too troublesome. His feelings blossomed from mutual friendship since his freshman year, yet he had always been in self-denial, deciding to concentrate on tennis and his grades instead.

He looked at Sakuno's number in his cellphone's address book silently, and suddenly thought of planning something nice for her. Smiling, he dialed Momoshiro Takeshi's number…


End file.
